WGU - Is the IT Management Degree Worth it?

In this video I talk about the IT management degree and give a breakdown of what the degree is and who can benefit the most from this degree.
This is all my opinion and was made to help those who may be considering this degree.

[@SilvermanMan]

I have an associate degree in Networking and cybersecurity, and the reason why I am interested in this degree is because I am planning to finish this as quickly as possible and during this time I will also study for IT certificates. So as long as I have a bachelor degree in business and information technology along with certificates I think I am good to start my career as an IT professional.

[@APTHED]

That makes sense. Having a solid foundation in IT concepts will take you far when paired with knowledge from a business degree. I definitely have found the business courses to be very helpful and applicable in my day to day work life.

[@vnah8617]

This video is super helpful to me. I am more interested in the business side and I appreciate your bluntness in describing the degree is not that technical.🔥🔥🔥

[@kellys8989]

Thanks for posting this video. 🙌🏽I chose this degree because of the potential to graduate with a degree sooner than going straight to the software development area which as someone with no IT specific experience I feel I would need more time to go through the material. It’s helpful to see how this program is helping your career as someone already in the field.

[@APTHED]

It’s a great degree with great material! It’s super nice that those with and without IT experience can use this degree to help advance their careers.

[@kellys8989]

@@APTHED Absolutely and I will still be pursuing certifications on my own to broaden my knowledge. WGU’s flexibility is amazing! Thanks for sharing your journey!

[@makeshiftmuse251]

Excellent, thank you! I had chiseled away all my options to either this or the General IT degree, and this video sealed it for me. I'm going to hammer through the General IT that accelerates a Master's in IT Management. I'll take my time finishing the Master's portion, possibly never finish it if I'm honest. I'm going through a major career change from a manufacturing maintenance/management career into IT because of the physical punishment I've endured doing the former. Long road ahead, but I've already stacked up a bunch of my gen ed's through SDC/Sophia.

[@mattmcdonald3659]

I am also working through this degree to pursue a career change out of manufacturing. I’ve been a CNC machinist for nearly 20 years and really hoping this will be a good change.

[@APTHED]

Good luck! I’m sure you’ll do great! I work in IT and have seen several people pivot from other careers into IT and they have enjoyed it!

[@mattmcdonald3659]

I would agree with your assessment. I’m am new to IT and first thought this would be the best degree for speed but was concerned by the lack of practical IT knowledge. I have decided to go with the accelerated BSIT+MITM which I believe will help satisfy both practical and advancement potential.

[@makeshiftmuse251]

Me too! Where are you at after 6 months?

[@mattmcdonald3659]

@@makeshiftmuse251 I am currently working on the Applications portion of the Comptia A+. (Core 2). I transferred in about 70 cu’s from Sophia learning and made pretty good progress since Jan. 1 until I reached the Comptia Foundations course.(Core 1). I spent nearly 2.5 months studying and I am happy to say I passed last Thursday. I watched and rewatched all of Dion’s, Meyer’s, and some of Messer’s material. In some ways I feel like I waited to long and studied to much on Networks and Ports. It’s still all a little confusing but I passed so something must be sticking. Best of luck.

[@mongovang]

Updates?

[@brandonsanders2899]

I am two courses away from the bachelors part, and then off to the masters part

[@AarmOZ84]

Plus, if you do want to got into the business side of IT, your PMI CAPM cert will get you into IT Project Management.

[@Iceprintworks]

Great vid. I have been researching this for months now, i am trying to make my mind up between this, management, or marketing. at the end of the day the way i heard it explained best is that this is a degree for people who want to manage using technology. my plan is to do some digital marketing bootcamps and combine it with this. i own 3 businesses, so not sure if ill need any of it, but as you said just having a degree will make me more valuable if everything else fails.

[@APTHED]

I think this degree has so many valuable classes. Coming from an IT background, I feel that I have leaned a lot about management and business in general from the classes I’ve taken so far. This degree is definitely great if you want to manage IT or really manage in general! Good luck! I’m sure you’ll do great!

[@Rell-eu8wv]

Saying that you can’t get a help desk job with this degree sounds crazy. You can get a help desk job straight out of HS lol

[@APTHED]

I said it’s possible just difficult. I guess where I live it’s pretty difficult to get IT help desk jobs because there are so many students in my city with varied levels of experience. A lot of our hiring managers have turned down people with degrees because they just had a degree w/out experience.

[@bart_ender6116]

@@APTHED I got a help desk job with just the google IT cert.

[@APTHED]

@@bart_ender6116 that’s great! I’ve heard good things about the Google certs and at one point was seriously considering starting one.

[@bart_ender6116]

@@APTHED it was educational for sure and well made. I don't think they are well respected but it was enough to show I had some familiarity. It also counts for credits at wgu 4 I believe and gives you an a+ discount.

[@Rosonicole]

Help desk job is bottom tier and wouldn’t suggest it after getting this degree. Maybe if you’re already in that field and wanting to move up into management that would make sense. My suggestion is to learn excel, sql the bare minimum. Get a cert in those that way it looks like you’ve got something it related. Basically counts as “Experience”. You’ll need to know why you’re getting this degree. I work with databases within a manufacturing business. Therefore the point was to move into management. Simple. So it worked for me. It was a piece of paper that basically qualified me. It’s hard to compete despite already having excel & sql experience. This is a good video.

[@PPCCO.]

There's actually two degrees, one associated with science/ the other associated with business. It's on the website.

[@skyfalldeadpool1633]

I changed from this degree to accounting because I can get an apprenticeship for any tax or basic accounting and go from there. Harder to take this when I need worked in IT

[@skyfalldeadpool1633]

​@@dssh4281 I am almost done I have 5 classes left. 2 accounting classes were hard but the rest is doable😂

[@AarmOZ84]

Most people I see getting this degree are fast tracking to getting their MBA in TI Management as well. This is solely the business track. I seen a lot of IT guys who get into IT Management and absolutely hate it. However, there are other people out there with personalities that accel in Project Management roles. I was in the US Navy where projects fail all the time and you have several days of fire alarms with lots of stuff that needed done yesterday. I can say that IT generally is pretty low stress, so going into a management role would feel like a huge cultural shock. I support people who want to go the business route in IT instead and would recommend this degree (with the warning that you will not be making big bucks right out of the gate).

[@starlight446]

IT sales!! It’s insane getting passed for people straight out of college with as much sales experience I have.

[@BananaRainbows]

What do you mean ?

[@justinwilliams7595]

40 courses is intense! I'm a current WGU student and I thought 35 was a little insane for my program. No way I would pursue this degree but to each its own.

[@APTHED]

There are definitely a lot of courses but some of the courses are 1-2 CUs each so they don't take nearly as long. Good luck with your program!

[@blanco1301]

How many courses do you recommend

[@APTHED]

@@blanco1301 the 40 courses are required by WGU in order to graduate but if you have the ability to take courses from Sophia or Study.com I’d recommend taking any transferable courses from there.

[@joshuaahn8262]

Hello I have a question. I've just recently got my GED and I want to enroll in IT Management in WGU. But I don't have any High School or College Credits. Is it possible for me to get enrolled in IT Management in WGU without any credits? Also thanks for posting this video. 😁

[@APTHED]

So from what I remember reading, you can apply with a GED but you will need to either transfer in credits from WGU academy or something like Sophia.com or study.com. I transferred in college credits but I also used Sophia.com which was super nice to get some more credits transferred.

[@joshuaahn8262]

@@APTHED How many credits do you need to enroll in WGU?

[@APTHED]

@@joshuaahn8262 not sure about that question. You’d have to check with an enrollment counselor.

[@joshuaahn8262]

@@APTHED So if I do for an example English composition 1 and 2 on Sophia would that count as credits?

[@APTHED]

@@joshuaahn8262 yes those would count as credits that you could transfer to WGU.

[@elijahmatthew5270]

Basically you can’t skip a Help Desk Position with this degree especially if you have no IT Industry experience

[@APTHED]

I wouldn’t say you can’t do it, but I think it would be pretty hard to get a network engineer job with no experience in combination with this degree. Just an example. If you want to work in a non-IT field I’m sure this degree would help out a lot, especially if you’re looking for a business analyst job or something similar.

[@mishy_mix]

Would you recommend this degree for someone wanting to go into Governance Risk and Compliance?

[@APTHED]

If you want to go into GRC and are starting from scratch, I'd suggest looking into the cybersecurity degree. This degree doesn't touch on those topics really at all.

[@JacksonLloyd952]

Good stuff

[@unknownman1035]

You think I can get a business analyst job with this degree? No experience

[@APTHED]

I think if you take time and focus on all of the material, you can definitely get a business analyst job. The curriculum has all of the information you would need to be successful in securing a job like that. Just make sure to prioritize learning and not just finishing as fast as possible. Good luck!

[@darnellg8599]

Voice is about to put me to sleep…

[@APTHED]

I hope you get some good sleep!